Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 update 4 - Finally a break!

Had a bit of change in the weather this week, its been what feels like tropical weather.
As a count down we are now 4 weeks until the P2A reality is starting to set in a little.

I have forced myself to get out as much as I can, its been pretty good this week putting in, for me, some serious Km's I've almost hit 100Km's in the last few days.
I went out Thursday and got in a very snowy 23Km's and yesterday almost 32 with a training partner. As the weather seemed perfect today I thought why not have another go today, I thought lets get over the physiological barrier and do 40Km, the weather was great, 4c and sunny but the wind was tough. After 32Km my kegs were pretty much jelly but I forced myself to push on, either that or walk I guess!
I thought I had managed the route to perfection but disaster, my GPS only logged 39.9 Km's I was happy I managed to get that distance but still didn't manage to hit the 40Km mark!!

One thing I did learn is that in need to do a lot more training, the P2A is 40Km but its a hard 40Km with a tough climb at the end. Today I wouldn't have managed a climb of any sort at the end.

Care of  Endomondo below you can see my progress over the last week, what is encouraging is my speed, even though its mostly all road I'm happy that I'm kicking around 20Km/hr mark.

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 update 3 - The limitations of man and machines.

 

For those who know me I am reasonably competitive and hate failing.

The P2A is in 6 weeks time and I really don't think I am anywhere close enough to do myself justice.

Our weather this year in South Ontario has been truly brutal, its very difficult to get any outside training in and I hate working out in a gym. I have steered away from cycling in really cold weather but armed with new padded pants and a new cycling shirt I thought nothing could stop me today.

 

I have cycled regularly in sub zero temperatures on many occasions so what could the problem in cycling in -12 with -21 wind chill, a piece of cake.

Sadly not as easy as I was hoping, I have now come one step closer to determining my limit, and it doesn't go down to -12!!!

I almost turned back after 1Km but stuck at it for about 10 Km, my feet and fingers felt like they were falling off and even worse was my chin and cheeks. add to that my rear gears wouldn't select it was a miserable 40 mins.

 

But at least I managed to get out and now I know my threshold is not -12c  

 

.. and if your wondering, I'm not sure if the new padded pants worked as it was to cold to feel anything down there!



 

 

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014 Update 2

Finally the weather has broken enough to get out on the road, this winter has been particularly tough, very cold and tons of snow.

Race day for the Paris Ancaster spring classic  will be here before we know it its only about 6 weeks to go, yikes!!!

 

I have been watching several YouTube videos to get a better idea of what to expect and also a great account in the blog ill advised racing this is one of the best accounts of what to expect and it looks much tougher than I originally thought.

 

I have managed to get out twice in the last few days, its so good to get out on the road, I decided to take a local route which included a really tough hill and included some mud, well I found the mud!!

The image below doesn't do it justice.

I managed two runs on the same route and good news I did the 17km's in just under an hour, my goal for the Paris Ancaster spring classic is 2.5 hours which will be around 17km / hour. All I need to do is keep up this pace, bad news I that I have only managed one hour and I need to do it for 2.5 hours.

So looking at the weather forecast we have a few more days well below zero Celsius and another few inches of snow, fingers crossed I can get out pretty soon.

 

I mentioned in my last post and feel its worthy to mention it again a great free app I have downloaded on my Blackberry,  Endomondo is a fantastic, and free. It logs all my work outs and allows me to measure distance, time and a multitude of other items, check it out!!

Paris Ancaster - P2A - 2014

Where have you been?

Well the winter has been long, cold and loads of snow. I can't recall a year as bad since we have been in Canada, every week it seems we have had at least one major snow storm.

Last year I managed to get myself moving and started cycling whenever I could, it started as something to get me a little fitter and ended up where I couldn't stop whenever I had chance.

The winter has been cruel and I barely get out once every few weeks.

This year to make sure I keep going I have set myself an early goal, I have with a few friends signed up for the Paris - Ancaster spring race. its a 40 or 70km race over road, trail, mud and fields. We are attempting the 40km this year, details can be found at the link below.
http://www.parisancaster.com/index.html

So far this year I have just about managed a few short 10km rides on the very slippery and wet roads and maybe 5 or 6 short sessions in the gym, there is a great app which records progress I really encourage anyone who works out to use it, Endomodo is a free app and has kept my interest in fitness by tracking a multitude of information, try it out.
https://www.endomondo.com


And what will I be riding?
Below is my ride, I invested in a decent bike last year after struggling with a cheap mountain bike, the Specialized Crosstrail sorts disc, is a fantastic ride and has helped me keep interest and allowed my speed, distance and duration to move in the right direction.
http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/bikes/fitness/crosstrail/crosstrail-sport-disc


wish me luck!!

The best saves as voted by you.

As with the previous post, the votes are in and counted.

Thanks again for all the feedback, it makes all the effort worth while.

The top 4 saves as voted by you can be seen at the link below. Again some great saves.

Top 4 saves

Cheers

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The best goals as voted by you.

The votes are in and counted.

Many thanks to all the people from the UK and Canada who voted for the best Goals.

The top 4 can be found at the link below, well done to the scorers, they were all great goals.

The top 4 goals as voted by you

Also a huge thank you to all the people who have viewed my video's on U-Tube, I have just surpassed 5,000 views. Its great to see people are looking at the videos.

Cheers

B... 

U17 Soccer - Guelph best saves of the year 2011

As promised I have also compiled the best 10 goals from last years season in no particular order.


I know which ones I think are the best but for a bit of fun please vote on who you think should be ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

You can see all the goals in the linked video below,

2011 best goals
 

 
As with the best goals, to vote either leave a comment in the Blog, below, or on the U-tube channel.
I will tally up the votes and then add an updated video with the top three saves as voted by you.

Save - A - Jamie
Save - B - Ajax
Save - C - Jamie
Save - D - Steph
Save - E - Steph
Save - F - Jamie
Save - G - Woodbridge
Save - H - Panthers
Save - I - Steph
Save - J - Jamie

Enjoy

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U17 Soccer - Guelph Best goals of the year 2011

OK I have looked through the highlights over the last year and chosen in my opinion the best 10 goals in no particular order.

I know which ones I think are the best but for a bit of fun please vote on who you think should be ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

You can see all the goals in the linked video below,

Best goals 2011

To vote either leave a comment in the Blog, below, or on the U-tube channel.

I will tally up the votes and then add an updated video with the top three goals as voted by you.

Goal - A - Ethan
Goal - B - Kevin
Goal - C - Pablo
Goal - D - Justin
Goal - E - Emilio
Goal - F - Emilio
Goal - G - AJ
Goal - H - Ethan
Goal - I - Emilio
Goal - J - Josh


Coming soon, the ten top saves.

Cheers

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U17 Soccer - Guelph 94 Boys, 2011 summary

I hope you like this compilation of some of the highlights of the year, I will be adding the top few goals in another post hopefully next week. These "best of" will be my opinion but happy to hear any feedback.

Enjoy: -

U17 Guelph soccer 2011 highlights

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Oakville "B" (Highlights) Wed 14th Sept 2011

Sorry about the delay, the final game of the year with another win.

Congratulations to the whole team.

Guelph v Oakville B 14 Sept 2011

Thanks for a good season.

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Brampton Wed 7th Sept 2011 - Highlights

A good battle between the teams, lots of unnecessary yellows and in my honest opinion a game we should have won. But well battled by Brampton.

Guelph v Brampton

Cheers

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Brampton Sat 13th Aug 2011 - Highlights

Very well done Guelph, another good win.
There was so much good footage in this game it was really tough to edit down to 4 and a half minutes!

Guelph v Brampton

Regards

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Unionville Wed 3rd Aug 2011

Great result, well played.

Guelph v Unionville

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Oshawa (Highlights) Wed 27th July 2011

A very long trip to Oshawa, respectable result.

Guelph v Oshawa

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Oakville "B" (Highlights) Wed 13th July 2011

Great result for the team, well played everyone!!

Guelph v Oakville 2

Enjoy the extended highlights.

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Ontario cup, Panthers and Brampton.

Not our best performances of the year sorry I missed the best game, attached are the first two games: -

Game 1 - Guelph v Panthers

Game 2 - Guelph v Brampton East

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Woodbridge (Highlights) Wed 6th July 2011

Good result and our second win of the year.
We went behind in the first half but kept in the game and scored two great goals in  the second half to seal the win.

Guelph v Woodbridge

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U17 Soccer - Guelph v Dixie (Highlights) Wed 29th June 2011

Another solid performance by the team, Uundefeated Dixie, "they" managed to pull off a draw in the last few mins of the game..

Guelph v Dixie link.

Enjoy

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Guelph 94 Boys"A", 2010 Highlights

Enjoy a summary of the 2010 season.

Link to U-Tube video.

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U18 Soccer - Guelph v Sporting Sat 18th June 2011

Bonus video, there were a few of the U17 players called up for this game.

Guelph U18 v Sporting

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